GT with Tech or Touring with Sunroof package + Tech ?

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petemadz

Member
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Looking...
I am in the market for a compact SUV and CX-5 is one of my finalists. I am looking at two options here,

1. Grand Touring with Tech package (not keen on iActivesense..)
2. Touring with Sunroof-Bose and Tech package

Now my trouble is with having a clean comparison of these two options. The tech package for GT is called GT tech package though I am not clear how it is different from the "Regular" Tech package option for Touring version. Based on comparing the specs, both look exactly the same. Need confirmation from owners/experts here.

As per the specs on website, I am not very keen on the added features of GT such as leather seats/trims, bigger wheels, dual zone climate control, heated mirrors, power lumbar, Sirius XM etc. Is there any other features in GT that is missing in Touring with Tech package? Their website does not allow a trim comparison!

Price-wise, I find the second option about 1.5K cheaper than the first option, which I think is a good deal for GT with the above features. Did any of you did this comparison and made a decision?
 
I agree. The new web design at the US Mazda website makes it harder to compare different trims for the same vehicle. The key differences between your 2 alternatives for 2016.5 CX-5 are 19" and 17" alloy wheels, leather-trimmed "sport" seats and premium cloth seats, and dual-zone automatic climate control and manual air conditioning. There're some minor differences such as heated side mirrors on GT, and 8-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with power lumbar support on GT to 6-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with manual lumbar support on Touring. You have to make your own decision that if you want these features on GT for additional $2,105 MSRP.

In addition, some people claimed later production 2016.5 GT does come with memory driver seat, and 6-way power passenger seat; but the adjustments on driver seat is downgraded to 6 ways.

The difference between GT Technology Package and Touring Technology Package is GT Tech has less features included as some of the features in Touring Tech are the standard equipment for a base GT, such as rain-sensing windshield wipers, and auto on/off headlights.

Another thing to remember is that it's easier to find a CX-5 GT with Tech in stock than a Touring with Moonroof/Bose + Tech. Of course you can always special order one but it's going to take longer to get it.
 
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I just got a 2016.5 GT with tech, it does not have memory driver seat or power passenger seat. IMO, it's worth the $1500 for the GT, the leather is very nice to have.
 
I have some desirability issues with GT as well. I am not particularly keen on the 19" wheels on GT given the ride characteristics of the car and the road surface in my area. Also leather seats are not the best when temperature is in 3 digits. I find fabric seat better in these circumstances. While having a climate control system is useful, the "dual zone" feature is just an eyewash in most cases. I have never found it useful in my other cars. We don't have it at home, why we need it in cars? heated side mirrors are not useful in my area. I hardly listen to radio, prefer mostly my own collection of songs on usb. So Sirius is not an attraction.

It is true that it is hard to get a Touring model readily with both packages installed. The only one available at my dealer, among some 20+ CX-5 cars, has a soul red color which I don't prefer.
 
petemadz said:
I have some desirability issues with GT as well. I am not particularly keen on the 19" wheels on GT given the ride characteristics of the car and the road surface in my area. Also leather seats are not the best when temperature is in 3 digits. I find fabric seat better in these circumstances. While having a climate control system is useful, the "dual zone" feature is just an eyewash in most cases. I have never found it useful in my other cars. We don't have it at home, why we need it in cars? heated side mirrors are not useful in my area. I hardly listen to radio, prefer mostly my own collection of songs on usb. So Sirius is not an attraction.

It is true that it is hard to get a Touring model readily with both packages installed. The only one available at my dealer, among some 20+ CX-5 cars, has a soul red color which I don't prefer.
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You said everything correctly between these two alternatives as we went through the same dilemma. I prefer cloth seats also due to the extreme hot and cold weather in our area and is not fond of "all-black" interior with leather. But I wasn't sure about the longevity of the cloth seats from Mazda. Mazda's leather feels like synthetic leatherette and IMO is not high quality leather. In the end we special ordered a GT AWD with Tech just for faster to get one.

Apparently you did your homework as I didn't aware SiriusXM satellite radio and SiriusXM all-access package are not in the Touring with Moonroof/Bose + Tech.
 
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yrwei52 said:
I prefer cloth seats also due to the extreme hot and cold weather in our area and is not fond of "all-black" interior with leather.
Yeah, part of me kinda wish I went with the white/tan interior leather. Mazdas leather retains heat so much. Probably sounds weird but in the summer now, if its been sitting in the sun, and you get in, its obviously hot. But even 30 minutes later where the car is cold, the seats are still really hot. Its really weird. They just seem to never cool down like other cars I've been in before. Maybe other black leather cars are like that, it's just been awhile since I've been in one. My last car had a grey leather material.
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Had the same dilemma when I looked for a CX-5. Didn't care much about the larger wheels nor leather. Was able to find the exact Touring + Tech at a dealer 45 minutes away so I went with that. Not a common/popular combo, to be sure.
 
Been in the high 90s lately here, might hit 100 today. I park outside at work and have had no problem with the white leather interior. Love the leather and its holding up really well even though I wear Blue jeans every day.
 
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In considering hot weather we opted for a White CX-5 with tan cloth interior but with Xenons. Touring w/tech was the only thing that fit the bill at the time. AC cools off interior quick. Even when its 115 degrees out you can instantly sit on the cloth seats and not get burned.
 
I got a white GT with the "parchment" white leather, I wanted leather, I am always running and riding my bike, my speed3 had cloth and I felt like the cloth seats soaked up the sweat even when I sat on blankets/towels. I am a little concerned about it staying clean though, I have 2 kids (eek2). My wife's CX-9 has leather and heated seats and I wanted them since we got her car, so I went with GT. I did seriously consider Touring with tech, but decided to go with GT. Either way, you will love the CX-5.
 
Does the Touring with Tech come with the LED headlights the GT/tech has? If so I would go GT. Love my LED lights. I drive through deer infested country late at night all the time, and would pay $1500 just for the lights.
 
BambooBen said:
Does the Touring with Tech come with the LED headlights the GT/tech has? If so I would go GT. Love my LED lights. I drive through deer infested country late at night all the time, and would pay $1500 just for the lights.
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Yes, the 2016.5 Touring with tech comes with LED headlights with AFS, LED foglights and LED combination taillights. Currently shopping ourselves for a CX-5 and we are deciding between the Sport or Touring, both with AWD.
 
It looks like I will have trouble finding a Touring with both Tech and Sunroof options. This means I will end up going with GT + Tech (rolleyes). This also means more pressure on the pricing as even the Touring option was a stretch for my budget. Let me see where i can close...

Btw, I did research on the comparison and yes the tech package is exactly the same on both, in fact it adds more features in Touring (auto on/off headlights and rain sensing vipers) to compensate for what it misses as standard equipment in comparison with GT. So effectively the features different between "GT+Tech" and "T+Sun/Sound+Tech" are,

1. Leather seats/trims
2. Heated side mirrors
3. Climate control + dual zone
4. 19" alloys and tires instead of 17" (width remains same at 225 though profile is down from 65 to 55)
5. 8-way driver seat with power lumber vs 6-way driver seat with manual lumbar
6. Sirius XM Satellite radio

All this adds up to about $2K in price difference. Outside view remains exactly same except for wheels. And Mazda don't do badging of trim levels in any case.
 
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petemadz said:
It looks like I will have trouble finding a Touring with both Tech and Sunroof options. This means I will end up going with GT + Tech (rolleyes). This also means more pressure on the pricing as even the Touring option was a stretch for my budget. Let me see where i can close...

Btw, I did research on the comparison and yes the tech package is exactly the same on both, in fact it adds more features in Touring (auto on/off headlights and rain sensing vipers) to compensate for what it misses as standard equipment in comparison with GT. So effectively the features different between "GT+Tech" and "T+Sun/Sound+Tech" are,

1. Leather seats/trims
2. Heated side mirrors
3. Climate control + dual zone
4. 19" alloys and tires instead of 17" (width remains same at 225 though profile is down from 65 to 55)
5. 8-way driver seat with power lumber vs 6-way driver seat with manual lumbar
6. Sirius XM Satellite radio

All this adds up to about $2K in price difference. Outside view remains exactly same except for wheels. And Mazda don't do badging of trim levels in any case.
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Doesn't a Touring with the TECH already mean it has bose and moonroof too? Can you get a touring tech without getting the bose/moonroof package?

UPDATE: I just built one online via the MAZDA.com site, and getting a Touring with TECH, already means you are getting the BOSE/Moonroof. So the Touring with Tech will be the one you want. The only Touring/Tech FWD I see nearby you within 150 miles is in Memphis in the Soul Red
 
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petemadz said:
It looks like I will have trouble finding a Touring with both Tech and Sunroof options. This means I will end up going with GT + Tech (rolleyes). This also means more pressure on the pricing as even the Touring option was a stretch for my budget. Let me see where i can close...
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You can special order an exact one you want for a Touring with Moonroof/Bose + Tech. Ask the sales manager searching the inventory at Mazda's port of entry in LA first. Most likely he can find one there for you if you'll not too picky on colors. Depending on where are you located, and whether or not the vehicle is still on the Pacific Ocean, it could take the maximum of 20+ days to get it with your dealer's name on window sticker and near zero miles on odometer. The worst case is, which is highly unlikely, the CX-5 you want is no where can be found and has to be made to order from factory which would take a month or two. In oury case we still received decent deal via special order, got the exact CX-5 we wanted, and took 23 days to get it with 3 miles on the odometer!
 
zkywd119 said:
I have the similar plan, but I am worrying that the dealer is gonna charge me higher price or it can be very hard to bargain a good price. I do need to seal the price before he orders it right? Thanks.
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For dealers they've to order certain amount of cars for each month or more frequently. So if you pre-order a car, there's nothing to lose for them to include your car in their order list. Some larger volume dealers or my Mazda dealer who is small but in business for a long time, can even order a single vehicle from Mazda North American Operations. The sales manager of my dealer found a CX-5 fit my requirement from Mazda's inventory which is coming from Japan within 2 weeks to LA, he got VIN, we negotiated the price, paid $500 deposit, he placed the order the next day, and 23 days later it was delivered to our dealer.

My price is not the lowest at time among all Mazda dealers in our area, but we felt they provided good service. And there's no difference price wise if we picked up a CX-5 out of the dealer's lot. So why not just order one with everything we want, but waited for 23 days!
 
PHP:
zkywd119 said:
Thanks for your information! I am gonna try that later, maybe during the Thanksgiving time. Hopefully price will drop a bit at that time:)
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If you can wait that long, may be you should wait even longer for the 2nd-gen CX-5 which should be available sometime next spring.
 
yrwei52 said:
PHP:
If you can wait that long, may be you should wait even longer for the 2nd-gen CX-5 which should be available sometime next spring.
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This is actually my predicament right now. I'm currently shopping for a new car, have a second appointment with the Mazda dealer tomorrow for a second test drive and to evaluate my trade-in, and talk about price. I'm not sure if I'm going to let them run my credit tomorrow or not, it's going to depend on what the numbers look like. The salesperson told me that, in general, I can expect to take about $2,600 off of the MSRP for a 2016.5 AWD GT with both options checked, but I want to get that down a bit lower. And the 2017 model is in the back of my mind too, along with what I'm reading about transmission issues and the windshields cracking. I really LOVE the vehicle however.

Hard decision!
 
The seats in the GT are also a bit bigger. Was going to get a Touring but my wife wasn't happy with the feel of the seats so we tried the GT and they were different. Also have white with tan interior. Go to Florida a couple times a year and this combo makes for a cooler ride.
 
I am also eyeing cx5 in san diego.
Few things...
didnt like the fact that even bose speakers are not great
windshield tend to break easily
dont really care about sunroof... more moving pieces more likey to break..
the seats are bad...
dont care for leather seats.. i find cloth trim better

I may stick with routing with tech package if the seats feel ok in touring as well.

Als0, I am in no hurry to buy. I drive a sweet protege5 stick shift which is nicely lowered. I may wait for 2017 and bargain a good deal on 2016.5.
I am also thinking about RDX... a used certified one
 
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